Friday, March 26, 2010

The self-titled debut record from Minneapolis natives Polara sparked a minor bidding war among the majors, which led to the band signing with Interscope for their next few releases. On this track, "Source of Light", from said debut - you can hear why the majors came calling. It's a super hooky and finely crafted alterna-pop song that could have, and should have been huge with the 120 Minutes crowd - though elsewhere on the album they veer into much spacier territory. Their tenure with Interscope never yielded that kind of acclaim, but the band continues to put out great records to this day.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Formed in 1992, lo-fi noise poppers Duochrome released a number of 7" singles before compiling them as the full length compilation album All Day I Dream About Sex, in 1998 through the Vital Cog label. This track, "Theremin" appeared on their second single, the Neon Ground Effects EP, released 1994 on DaDa Records. It's a fast and crunchy one typical of its era, but its up there with the best of them.